The Boys (group)

For the television series, see The Boys (TV series). For the comics, see The Boys/Comics.

“

I got the Boys back together.

”

The Boys were the titular anti-heroic main protagonists of The Boys comic series and its corresponding Amazon television series. Their name was derived from a British Cockney slang term for a gang or posse that dispenses street justice; "When you need someone hurt, you send The Boys after them."

They were a black ops team of vigilantes under the CIA with the mission of bringing down Vought International and The Seven, its elite superhero team, by any means necessary. The group was first founded by Grace Mallory and its first lineup included Billy Butcher, Frenchie and Mother's Milk. However, after their activities resulted in the deaths of Mallory's grandchildren, she gave up on hunting Supes and disbanded The Boys.

Five years later, Butcher decided to reform the group after discovering a lead on The Seven through Hughie Campbell, prompting him to reunite with his old teammates, recruit both Hughie and Kimiko into The Boys, and restart their war with The Seven and Vought.

As of the Season 4 finale, after the death of Mallory, Butcher's betrayal of the team by killing Neuman, and the political victory of Homelander, the Boys have effectively been disbanded, with all of the remaining members apart from Annie January being subjugated and detained by Vought's deputized superheroes and private security forces under the new government's martial law.

Plot[]

Season 1[]

Thanks to Translucent's intel, The Boys learn about A-Train's relationship with Popclaw and begin spying on the duo. Their investigations into the two Supes eventually lead the gang to discover the existence of Compound V, a serum created by Vought that gives the Supes their powers. Along the way, they encounter a Japanese Supe named Kimiko, who gained her powers as part of a scheme to create superpowered terrorists and later joins them after Frenchie befriends her. Hughie also forms a sexual relationship with Starlight, a heroic member of The Seven who is unaware of his activities with The Boys.

In an attempt to find out more about Kimiko, Frenchie and M.M. ask the Supe Mesmer to use his powers on her. Unfortunately, this backfires when Mesmer rats them out to Homelander, resulting in them all becoming wanted fugitives and leading Butcher to furiously beat Mesmer to death for his treachery. Although Vought is later able to capture the entire team except for Butcher, Starlight, who now knows the truth about Hughie and sympathizes with his ideology, shows up to save them, allowing The Boys to escape and go underground. Meanwhile, Homelander kills Madelyn Stillwell for her lies, frames Butcher for her murder, and takes him to see his wife Becca, who is revealed to be alive and having spent the last eight years raising Ryan Butcher, a child she conceived when Homelander raped her, in secret.

Season 2[]

Because of their vigilante status, The Boys are forced into hiding. They reside in a comic bookstore basement with the (Clarkson Avenue) Haitian Kings. Hughie and Starlight are able to successfully expose the existence of Compound V to the public. Butcher also manages to find out where Becca is being held with Mallory's help, although he neglects The Boys while doing so. However, after Black Noir attacks the team and nearly kills Hughie, Butcher blackmails him into backing off and takes back control of The Boys once more.^[1]

Following Butcher's return, The Boys discover the existence of the Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania that acts as a front for Vought's illegal experiments with Compound V and begin working with Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, who publicly opposes Vought and schedules a congressional hearing against the corporation for its various crimes. After a head-popping Supe attacks the hearing and kills Jonah Vogelbaum, Shockwave, and multiple others, The Boys are officially deputized as CIA operatives by Mallory. Unbeknownst to any of them, however, Neuman is the head-popping Supe and a spy for Vought within the American government, having manipulated Mallory and The Boys for her own ends.

When Homelander and Stormfront kidnap Ryan, Becca comes to Butcher for his help. Hughie and Starlight use intel given to them by A-Train to leak Stormfront's real identity as a Nazi to the public. The Boys are ultimately able to rescue Ryan and also critically injure Stormfront, who is disavowed from The Seven and incarcerated. Following Stormfront's defeat, Mallory is also able to get all charges against The Boys dropped, allowing them to go back to their old lives.

Season 3[]

Over the next year, The Boys, except for M.M., continue to work as contractors for the FBSA until Hughie discovers that Neuman is the head-popping Supe and gives Butcher the green light to go back to their old ways of sabotaging Vought and The Seven. The Boys are initially united in their efforts to locate a Russian anti-Supe weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy and might be able to kill Homelander. However, the team starts to fracture when M.M, Frenchie, and Kimiko discover that Butcher and Hughie have been secretly taking V24, a temporary version of Compound V that gives humans superpowers for 24 hours. Butcher and Hughie justify using V24 as a way of ensuring their victory, while the others worry it will corrupt their goals and make them hypocrites. Even worse, Soldier Boy turns out to be alive and nearly kills Kimiko by negating her powers, taking her out of commission and turning her back into a normal human. This defeat, along with a number of disagreements, prompt M.M, Frenchie, and Kimiko to leave the group when The Boys return home to America, although M.M later reluctantly rejoins Butcher and Hughie when Soldier Boy accidentally causes a massacre in New York.

Running out of both time and options, Butcher and Hughie track down Soldier Boy and offer him a deal; they'll help him get payback on Payback, and in return, he'll help them kill Homelander. Although Soldier Boy agrees to this partnership, it strains Hughie's relationship with Starlight and costs Butcher M.M.'s loyalty, causing The Boys to split in two. Despite their disagreements, both factions eventually wind up in Vermont, where the TNT Twins are hosting the annual Herogasm Event. Things ultimately go out of control when Homelander arrives at Herogasm to fight and kill Soldier Boy; in the ensuing battle, Homelander is brutally overpowered by Butcher and Soldier Boy (with Hughie serving as support), and narrowly escapes death by flying away before Soldier Boy can use his radiation burst attack on him. The Boys then depart Herogasm, but not before Starlight exposes Homelander's true nature to the world through a live-streamed video and quits The Seven for good.

Meanwhile, Frenchie waits with Kimiko to recover from her encounter with Soldier Boy. When she awakens, Kimiko is overjoyed to discover her powers have been nullified and hopes to live a normal life with Frenchie. However, Little Nina is unhappy with the damage they caused in Russia and demands Frenchie repay her with another hit. When Frenchie doesn't, Nina kidnaps Frenchie, Kimiko and Cherie. Kimiko frees herself and brutally kills Nina's guards before Nina flees the area. The three treat their wounds in the hide-out with Kimiko depressed that even without the V she's still a "monster". The duo does eventually regroup with M.M and Starlight to help them fight against Soldier Boy. Frenchie and M.M analyzed the Russian experiments to determine Soldier Boy's weakness, while Kimiko asks Starlight to get her some Compound V to regain her powers. When Annie retrieves the Compound V, to her horror, she learns that V24 is lethal if taken in multiple doses.

Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy continue their hunt for Payback's remaining members, leading them to Mindstorm. Although Solder Boy succeeds in killing Mindstorm, Hughie grows concerned when he learns Soldier Boy isn't as admirable as he portrays himself to be. Annie's warning of V24's lethality combined with Butcher's growing concern for Hughie's safety leads him to abandon Hughie and continue alone with Soldier Boy. Hughie is picked up by Annie and they regroup with Frenchie, M.M, Queen Maeve and Kimiko to decide how to proceed. They initially plan to intercept Butcher and stop Soldier Boy; however, the members are betrayed by Queen Maeve when she decides that Homelander is a bigger threat than Soldier Boy. Butcher then imprisons the Boys while he, Queen Maeve and Soldier Boy venture to the The Seven Tower to confront Homelander. The three standoffs against Homelander, with the latter pleading with Soldier Boy to join him, meeting only refusals. The fight changes when Homelander involves Ryan in the fight. Soldier Boy and Butcher begin to fight with Butcher defending Ryan while Soldier Boy clings to the original plan of killing Homelander by any means. Butcher is backed by the others after they freed themselves from their prison. Frenchie and Kimiko work to create Novichok, Soldier Boy's one weakness, while the others hold him off in the meantime. When the Novichok is created, The Boys restrain Soldier Boy in an attempt to incapacitate him. Soldier Boy refuses to be taken captive again and charges up his most devastating blast yet. Maeve then tackles Soldier Boy out the window and saves them all. After the destruction, Butcher is diagnosed with a terminal illness due to his V24 use, the presumed dead Maeve announces her retirement with Elena, and The Boys welcome Annie as their newest member. Their celebration is interrupted with a TV broadcast that announces Victoria Neuman as the new Vice President Nominee, so The Boys resolve to focus on taking down Victoria.

Season 4[]

For the next six months, The Boys work with the CIA and Robert Singer to assassinate Victoria Neuman in an effort to stop Victoria from taking over the government. At some point, Butcher is demoted as leader of The Boys and replaced by M.M, all the while, Butcher's health also begins to decline rapidly as a result of his V24 abuse. At a public conference, The Boys plan to assassinate Neuman by infiltrating her hotel room and replacing her eye-drops with acid. The plan goes smoothly until they're attacked by Neuman's daughter and forced to retreat. Victoria confronts Hughie while Hughie and Butcher attempt to kill her but to no avail. The Boys are reprimanded by the CIA for their failure to kill Neuman while Butcher forms a secret alliance with an old associate, Joe Kessler to turn Ryan against Homelander. Butcher reveals his failing health to the others and pleads for MM to help him save Ryan, but this late confession only strains his relationship with M.M.

With their failure to kill Neuman, the Boys shift their focus back to Homelander and the Seven. In an effort to help his wife and daughter, M.M searches for Todd and finds Todd with Homelander and a mysterious woman. Following Homelander's acquittal, a riot breaks outside and 3 of Homelander's greatest fans are killed (including Todd). M.M suspects the riot was staged and investigates the woman he saw with Homelander, identifying her as Sister Sage. The Boys follow Sister Sage to Truthcon where they see her recruit Firecracker. The Boys catch a lucky break when A-Train gifts them proof the riot deaths were staged. M.M believes A-Train is turning against Homelander and recruits him. A-Train informs them about a meeting between Neuman and Homelander at Vought on Ice. Hughie overhears Homelander and Sage's plan to have Supes systematically take over the country.

However, Personal issues begin to arise for each member and interfere with their mission. Hughie's father has a stroke which forces Hughie to confront his estranged mother when she visits them in the hospital. With his father's survival rate declining, Hughie makes a deal with A-Train and gives his father Compound V. This ultimately fails to restore Hugh's mind and Hughie euthanizes his father. Frenchie begins developing feelings for a new guy he met, but he grows overwhelmed with guilt when he realizes Colin was the son of a Judge he previously assassinated. Frenchie reveals the truth to Colin and with his guilt overwhelming him, Frenchie has himself arrested and isolates himself. Kimiko struggles with overcoming her past trauma in the Shining Light Liberation Army and trying to accept Frenchie's new relationship. Her recovery halts when she reencounters a familiar face from her past. Annie attempts to distance herself from her Starlight persona but begrudgingly accepts it to raise more support for her movement against Vought. All the while, her old rival, Firecracker publicly besmirches her reputation. While Butcher struggles with his own mortality and trying to turn Ryan against Homelander. Butcher wants to honor his promise to protect Ryan and attempts to mend their relationship. Kessler orders Butcher to kidnap Ryan but Butcher would rather win him over. The angered Kessler insists they don't have enough time to convince Ryan and urges Butcher to consider more ruthless measures.

With no conventional ways to kill Neuman, Butcher suggests The Boys investigate the Supe Virus from Godolkin University. To find more information about the virus, they reluctantly work with Stan Edgar to find it. The Boys investigate Edgar's former estate and find the massacred remains of a virology lab. They find no survivors and no remaining samples of the virus, until they are unexpectedly ambushed by Victoria Neuman. Edgar convinces Victoria to agree to a temporary truce until they find out what happened to Dr. Shah. As the group searches the farm for survivors, they are repeatedly attacked by "V'd-up" animals until they are cornered in a barn by V'd-up sheep. There, they find Dr. Shah, who has the last sample of the virus. M.M suggests they infect Shah's dead colleague and use it as bait to kill the V'd-up sheep, while Butcher claims the virus is too valuable to waste and suggests they try to outrun the sheep instead. M.M ultimately takes charge of the situation, and the group agrees to use the virus on the sheep. They toss the body outside and the sheep consume it, but they begin attacking the barn walls and force the group outside. As the group flees, the virus kicks in and kills the sheep. The Boys and Neuman agree to go their separate ways. Secretly, however, Butcher kidnaps Dr. Shah and holds him prisoner. Alongside Kessler, Butcher orders Dr. Shah to recreate the virus.

With the virus out of the picture, The Boys shift their focus back to The Seven. They have Hughie, disguised as Webweaver, infiltrate Tek Knight's house party. Hughie plants several listening devices before he is escorted away by Tek Knight and separated from the others. Fearing for Hughie's safety, The Boys sneak into the party to rescue him. They rescue Hughie and torture Tek Knight for details on Sage's plan. Tek Knight reveals Sage wanted to use his prisons as internment camps for humans, all the while, a listening device records Neuman's plan to overthrow President Singer.

Meanwhile, Butcher and Kessler imprison Dr. Shah and tasks him with creating a virus strong enough to kill Homelander. Butcher's health continues to decline as Becca urges Billy to not go through with the plan, while Kessler encourages him to torture Sameer. Sameer reveals that to make the virus strong enough to kill Homelander, it would become unstable and airborne, which would kill every Supe on the planet. Against Kessler's refusal, Butcher reports these findings to The Boys and has Frenchie released from prison. Due to his health and concern for his family, M.M reinstates Butcher as the leader of The Boys. The Boys split up, with Kimiko and Frenchie guarding Dr. Shah, while the rest of The Boys chase after an assassin hired to kill President Singer. They confront the assassin, who is revealed to be a shapeshifting Supe, but she escapes. Having failed to capture the assassin, The Boys return to base but they are confronted by The Deep and Black Noir II. A fight breaks out and A-Train helps The Boys escape. M.M ultimately reconsiders leaving and remains in The Boys.

All the while Frenchie and Kimiko guard Dr. Shah, the two open up about their troubled pasts and accept each other. Dr. Shah finishes replicating the virus and injects it into Kimiko. Shah escapes as Frenchie amputates Kimiko's leg and preserves the virus samples. The virus isn't strong enough to kill Homelander but it might kill Neuman. With Shah and the shapeshifter gone, things look grim but M.M reinspires The Boys. Unbeknownst to The Boys, the shapeshifter has captured Annie and is impersonating her. The Shapeshifter deletes Hughie's blackmail against Neuman and waits for the moment to assassinate President Singer.

Come January 6th, Singer's inauguration is near and The Boys rush to stop Neuman. Hughie searches for the assassin while Frenchie works to extract the virus from Kimiko's leg. Butcher recovers in a hospital bed and Annie escapes from the Shapeshifter. Despite Homelander outing Victoria as a Supe, congress certifies the election. M.M orders Hughie to leak Neuman's files but they've been deleted. With no way to attack Neuman, M.M advises they switch to defense and protect Singer. The Boys stand guard of Singer in his bunker. Shifter Annie talks to Hughie and Hughie notices her repeat a phrase the Shapeshifter previously said. Realizing the Shapeshifter is Annie, Hughie warns M.M and they attempt to remain calm. The Shifter notices their nervousness and attacks them. Secret service escorts Singer to safety while the Shifter kills the guards. The Shifter incapacitates Kimiko and chases Singer, but she is tackled by Annie. Annie fights the Shapeshifter and strangles the Supe to death. The Boys return to base as Frenchie finishes the virus. Neuman calls Hughie and begs for a deal. In exchange for protecting her and her daughter, Neuman offers to step down as vice president. The Boys debate on whether they should trust Neuman. Hughie convinces the others, and they agree to meet Neuman.

Meanwhile, Ryan visits Butcher and Grace. Butcher pleads with Ryan to leave Homelander and return to Grace. Ryan is reluctant so Butcher attempts to convince him. Grace then reveals the truth about Homelander's murders and their plan to have Ryan kill Homelander. Ryan refuses to kill his dad and asks to leave. Grace refuses to let him go so Ryan shoves her and accidentally kills her with his super strength. Horrified by Grace's death, Butcher surrenders to Kessler and embraces his darkness. Frenchie stands guard as Neuman arrives. The Boys agree to the deal, but a recovered Butcher interrupts the meeting. Hughie begs Butcher to trust him, but Butcher refuses to take the deal. Butcher unleashes tendrils in his chest and kills Victoria Neuman. Butcher then confiscates the virus and leaves The Boys. Singer and The Boys are framed for Victoria's murder, allowing Steven Calhoun to succeed him as president and impose Homelander's will. The Boys go their separate ways and attempt to flee the country. Each pair is attacked by Vought's Supes. Frenchie and Kimiko are captured by Sam and Cate, M.M is knocked unconscious by Love Sausage, and Hughie and Annie are cornered by Cindy. Having regained her powers, Annie is able fly away and evade capture. Butcher drives off with Kessler and the virus, plotting their Supe genocide.